So, today's letter is F. If Katie had it her way, this would be all about Fantasmic. However, considering I've only ever seen it once, I don't think that's enough to blog about. Especially considering it scared me more than anything (that phobia thing, you know how it goes).

F

Food!

So, I'm mainly going to talk about three things: places to get free food in the parks, the Blue Bayou, and Club 33.

First of all, Mission Tortilla Factory at DCA is definitely my favorite place to get free food. Not only do you get a free tortilla when you do the tour, but if you're wearing a birthday button, you get a lovely bag of a dozen tortillas! Talk about a lovely free snack! Whenever my ex and I went to the park with his little girl, I always made sure I took my birthday button so we had a cheap snack for her. The Boudin Bakery right across the walkway also give you samples of bread. If they're slow, you might get a large handful of bread samples instead of just one or two. There also usually isn't a wait for the bread tour, and you don't have to actually watch the tour, which is nice.

My absolute favorite restaurant, hands down, at Disneyland is the Blue Bayou. It may even possibly be my favorite Disney restaurant EVER. Not only do they have a fantastic Monte Cristo, but the restaurant is inside a ride! Does it get any cooler than that? Honestly? I think not. Just a fun little tip for you: if you make the earliest possibly lunch reservation, which I believe is 11:30, you're guaranteed a seat along the river's edge. When I was little, every trip to Disneyland we would eat at the Blue Bayou. Also, you can only get the Monte Cristo for lunch, in case you wanted to try one, which I highly suggest. Some people are crazy about Dole Whips (I'm not a fan of pineapple), but my obsession is the Monte Cristo.

I'm sure most of you have heard of Club 33, but you probably don't know much about it. To be honest, neither do I. However, you can tell who works there because they have really awesome vests with 33 all over them in gold. You'll be surprised by how many people in the park are actually Club members or going with friends that are Club members. I've never been inside, except for the downstairs, which really wasn't that exciting. I've heard stories of CMs sneaking in, and a guy I worked with showed me a bunch of pictures he took. I've heard that the food is amazing, but also extremely expensive. You'll meet people that have connections to get in though, and I highly recommend taking those people up on their offers to take you. Seriously. I only wish I had the chance. One day, right? Oh, and you can cross train into Club 33, but the requirements are really intense.

Today's letter is only going to have one thing. I've been putting off blogging because I'm getting stuck on letters!

E

The Ellen DeGeneres Show

If there is only one non-Disney thing you do during your program, GO SEE ELLEN! Honestly, it was the most amazing experience ever. Originally I had gotten tickets for November, but I was termed before I was actually able to go. Instead, my friends Katie and Jaime went, but were only in the riff-raff room. The day in November that they went, David Archuleta was there, which I was really OK not seeing. However, they did get his CD, which I guess is better than nothing. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but somehow Katie won tickets to come back for the Twelve Days of Giveaways. If you don't know what that is, just Google it. Anyways, she called me, and asked if I wanted to come down and go with her. Of COURSE I said yes. For Christmas, my mom bought me a plane ticket to go down for a few days.

On December 9, 2008, Katie and I arrived at Warner Brothers Studios relatively early, as we wanted to make sure we got good seats. We checked in and got our tickets, and then walked to Subway and got lunch. The process of getting into the studio is long and relatively uneventful. We were told before we got in that groups might be split up, depending on where the director wanted us to sit. We were probably in the first ten people or so. Once we got into the studio, they sat us on an aisle seat. That enough was exciting, but we were in the row Ellen dances down! We were so excited! Ellen is so pretty, and tiny! Of course, it gets even better. Although we didn't really care about who was there that day, we were excited about the giveaways! In the end, Katie and I each walked out with $100 Visa Giftcard, a Wave skateboard (we gave those away), a pair of $300 sunglasses by Karl Lagerfeld, a $400 pearl necklace, a $1000 watch (the brand name is escaping me because I gave mine to my grandpa), about $200 of Tocca gifts (candles, perfume, soap), and I feel like there was something else, but I can't remember to save my life. Anyways, all in all it was an AMAZING experience. I would highly suggest going. If not to Ellen, then some other talk show or game show in the LA area. They're easy to find and really really fun.